Heretofore, leg structures have been known that serve to support a container in an upright or upstanding condition. Such a container, for example, serves to accommodate therein a filter that removes foreign matter (solid components) contained within a liquid. The container is supported in an upright posture by attaching a plurality of legs to the bottom portion of an outer circumferential surface of the container.
As a first conventional example of a leg structure for supporting this type of container, a fixed-type leg structure is known (for example, refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-353640).
FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a filter 100 equipped with a fixed-type leg structure 104. As shown in FIG. 1, the filter 100 comprises a container 102, and the leg structure 104 that serves to support the container 102. The container 102 includes an inlet port 106 provided on an upper side of the outer periphery thereof and through which a liquid to be processed is introduced, and a discharge port 108 provided on a lower side of the outer periphery thereof and through which the filtered liquid is discharged. In addition, on the lower portion of the container 102, a liquid removal opening 110 is provided, through which liquid, which has collected inside the container 102, is discharged when maintenance operations are performed. Tubes (not shown) are connected respectively to the inlet port 106, the discharge port 108, and the liquid removal opening 110. The leg structure 104 is attached to a lower portion on the outer peripheral surface of the container 102. The leg structure 104 includes a plurality of legs 112a, 112b, 112c (three as shown in the drawing), which are arranged at given intervals mutually in the circumferential direction of the container 102. The legs 112a to 112c are each affixed respectively by welding to the outer peripheral surface of the container 102.
As a second conventional example of a leg structure for supporting the container, a detachable-type leg structure also is known. FIG. 2 is an overall perspective view of a filter 120 equipped with a detachable-type leg structure 122. As shown in FIG. 2, the leg structure 122 includes two semicircular members 124, and a plurality of legs 126a to 126d, which are attached to each of the semicircular members 124. The two semicircular members 124 are attached to the container 102 as a result of being fastened together mutually by bolts 128 and nuts 130 while sandwiching the container 102 therebetween. On the other hand, the two semicircular members 124 are configured to be separable from the container 102 by releasing the fastening of the bolts 128 and the nuts 130. In other aspects thereof, the structure of the container 102 shown in FIG. 2 is the same as that of the container 102 shown in FIG. 1.